Obama urges Colorado voters to head to polls early

DENVER, Colo. – President Barack Obama is going to vote for someone tomorrow, but he won’t say for whom.

Speaking to a crowd of 16,000 in a Denver park, the president sought to lead by example by saying he would vote early in Chicago on Thursday.

“I can’t tell you who I’m voting for,” he said. “It’s a secret ballot. But Michelle says she voted for me.”

“We can vote early in Illinois, just like you can vote early in Colorado,” the president continued, driving home the importance of early voting to the Obama campaign, which is relying heavily on getting people to the polls before Election Day.

Earlier today senior White House adviser David Plouffe underscored the importance of early voting in swing states like Colorado, saying that through early vote figures, “you begin to make some assumptions about the electorate that’s going to materialize.”

To date, 37 percent of early Colorado voters are registered with the Democratic Party. Thirty-nine percent are registered with the Republican Party and 23 percent are registered with unaffiliated parties. (The rest are registered with other parties.)

But because those unaffiliated voters do not have to pick a party, it is difficult to get a precise read on which presidential candidate is getting the most early votes.

After the Denver event, the president headed to Los Angeles, Calif. to tape a segment for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Later Wednesday he was slated to attend a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nev.